Sunday November 21, 2010

The dreaded "Code Sign error: The identity 'iPhone Distribution' doesn't match any identity in any profile."

by Jay F. Davis, www.amazsoft.com

I've just finished my third iPhone App, and I got caught in the end with the dreaded "Code Sign error: The identity 'iPhone Distribution' doesn't match any identity in any profile." The fix is actually quite simple, but I thought I'd share my experience so that others might benefit. (And so I don't forget next time around!)

When I finally finished the app, including a painstaking process of testing and even getting the app "pre-approved" by our content provider, I then needed to compile the app for distribution by Apple.

What I discovered is that I had a basic misunderstanding of the point of code-signing for distribution. It actually has nothing to do with Apple's distribution of the App. All code-signing does is assure that the person that creates the signing certificate is the same person who submits the app. It's a security measure for uploading the app to Apple.

After the app is uploaded, the certificate can expire and it doesn't matter because the app has already been uploaded to Apple.

So finally, after reading a dozen sites where the problem was discussed, I realized that I did need a distribution "mobileprovision." For the case of distribution, the "mobileprovision" is a permission to compile and upload. Nothing else.

I had assumed that the distribution certificate and mobileprovision didn't matter, because my two distribution provisions were expired. And, if it mattered, then my apps would not longer be on sale in the iTunes Store!

Development is another matter: The mobileprovision/certificate combo does expires. In fact, iPhone development builds are only good for about 90 days because of this expiration (or less, if I one doesn't update the development certificate).

Anyway, kind of confusing since the certificate/mobileprovision combination are essentially used in one way during development and then only during the upload process before distribution.

In this case I just needed to create a new "mobileprovsion" for distribution. That's it.

[Go to the Provisioning tab on the iOS Provisioning Portal and create a new distribution provision!]

Friday December 23, 2005

Open-Source Business Strategy

by Jay F. Davis, www.amazsoft.com

As my business has evolved over the past few years, I've embraced several open-source web applications that have consistently provided excellent value to my clients. Chief among these are the LAMP platform (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP), which provide a solid core for cost-effective web applications.

I find that I consistently re-use several code libraries of my own and a couple popular open-source PHP-based web applications. These are:

osCommerce: The most popular php-based e-commerce web application. I've used this with several clients. The great benefit of osCommerce is that there are hundreds of mods that have been contributed by developers worldwide. Often I can find exactly what I need for a particular client need.

phpList: This has quickly become a must-have tool for my clients that do mass e-mail mailings. It works well and has all the power they need.

WTDB (Webtoad Database): My own library of PHP functions that makes if very easy to quickly build database administration functions for a client.

Mini-CM (Mini Content Manager): My own system that allows me to provide basic web site text editing via a web interface for my clients that want to update their own web site content. The CMS's out there are just too complex and too massive to give to a client. Mini-CM is just right.

Another new open-source web application that I can see using more frequently is CiviCRM. I'm doing an install of this for the Atlanta Audubon Society. CiviCRM is Drupal-based, at least in the version I've installed. So, I'm evaluating Drupal as my CMS of choice—assuming that I ever have a client that really needs a massive CMS. Still, CiviCRM meets a real need among non-profits, I think, so I'm tolerating Drupal for the moment. Who knows, I might even start to like it. Or perhaps I'll make the time to develop a standalone interface for CiviCRM

I'm still considering a couple more open-source web applications that could provide benefit, though I'm lukewarm on these:

phpBB: Forum software. I've used this with two clients, both of which have let their forums become stale. So, I'm waiting for the right kind of client before I try it again.

My strategy is to collaborate with web designers and web marketing specialists to create the glue that makes all these pieces integrate together smoothly. I'm developing a stable of experts in each system to help me.

Friday July 1, 2005

Webtoad Mini-CM: CMS for Small Business Web Sites

by Jay F. Davis, www.amazsoft.com

I've written before about my search for a good Open-Source Content Mangement System for web sites. A couple years ago I liked phpWebSite, primarily because it had an okay user interface, but mostly because it's output is nice XHTML.

Then I thought about trying to get my clients to actually use it and decided that perhaps Mambo would be a better choice, primarily because it has a better-developed user interface. Meaning it's pretty.

So, I installed Mambo for a couple non-paying clients.

They hated it. I got comments like "too complex," "I can't figure out what to do next," "Where do I set up the menus?" "I don't understand the terminology."

So after some reflection, it seems apparent that, in order to use one of these real content management systems, one has to grok the system. It's like learning a language. But CMS concepts are not simple to non-IT users.

The problem with these—and all web site content management systems—is that, because they try to do so much (and I think they have to), they require that users understand too much.

My client's don't want to grok this stuff. They just want to be able to fix typos and add a page or two that fit into the framework of their site.

And wouldn't it be nice if these simple page additions would automatically get Googlized?

That's what I thought.

So I made my own, which I'm calling Webtoad Mini-CM (Content Manager). I have three clients using it now and they love it. It only does what they need and doesn't demand that they grok CMS concepts such as blocks and modules.

The best part is that I can start with practically any decent web site design and convert it easily to be Mini-CM compatible. The only requirement is that the site include basic, repeatable elements on every page such as standard headers, footers and menus.

I haven't yet decided if I'll release Webtoad Mini-CM as an open-source project. Probably. But that will take some work, of course, to get it ready.